Album review: JOHN OTWAY – Montserrat
Red Bowler Records [Release date: 01.05.17]
There will surely always be a place for John Otway in the rock & roll firmament, as only an anarchic character such as him could have conceived of an album like this in 2017.
‘Montserrat’ proudly stands outside of any prevailing contemporary musical genre, but has enough cross generational appeal to make a connection with different listeners on different levels.
By turns he’s funny, reflective, poignant, poetic and makes good use of his band, though with the exception of the splendid psychedelic metal drone of ‘Seagull On Speed’ and the big guitar break of ‘Toronto’ some of the tracks sound too mixed back.
‘Montserrat’ marks the 25th anniversary of The Rolling Stones ‘Steel Wheels’ – the last rock recording on the island – and another clever marketing idea in the Otway cannon.
The fact that his new album was crowd funded says more about Otway’s enduing appeal to his durable fan base than it does about the lack of record companies willing to invest in independent artists.
Then again Otway isn’t just any indie artist, but his recorded output arguably never quite reached the heights of his furtive imagination.
This CD restates his essential and unique style – a perpetual chronicler of an alternative lifestyle, one part folk, one part punk, and one part a performance artist.
Perhaps his role as a performance artist – he mixes physical theatre with cerebral humour and plenty of self deprecation – has never easily translated into a passive audio listening experience. The problem was always that an Otway album without some anarchic humour would be like Zappa without the satire.
Happily ‘Montserrat’ is full of musical diversity and cleverly recycled themes and elements from his past, with plenty of fist pumping hooks, shot through rib tickling humour.
The key to glueing everything together lies in his heartfelt phrasing – be it the spoken word delivery of the Theramin soaked ‘Dancing With Ghosts’, the post punk snarl of ‘I Shouldn’t Be Doing This’, or the wide eyed vulnerability of the steel pan arrangement of ‘Jenny’ – which draws the listener into sometimes touching couplets.
He reserves his most brusque, up tempo punky gusto for the frenetic mid-70’s styled ‘Five Kisses’, which is short, sharp, snappy and to the point and could be Eddie & The Hot Rods.
Then there’s the well crafted, wistful feel of ‘Already Missing You’, given a gentle brush stroke gypsy jazz feel, complete with tinkling ivories and sonorous violin.
He’s smart enough to surround himself with his big band, Canadian producer Chris Birkett and even keyboard veteran Peter Filleul, listed as a recording consultant. Collectively they smooth out the edges to emphasize the sequential diversity, but never quite shake off a retro sounding production.
It all makes for an album with probably more substance than we might have imagined. And just past the half way point as Otway’s oeuvre gains clarity, the band explodes on ‘Toronto’, one of the best tracks on the album. It rocks hard and pokes a gentle finger in the ribs of the city which helped provide both the album’s producer and some of the gear for the makeshift studio in the Caribbean.
This track gives the album a notable lift and suggests that in between the self deprecating humour, there’s a decent songwriter trying to get out.
‘Somewhere Else To Go’ is a return to his folk roots on a heartfelt piece ballad that recalls his early romanticism: “And searching though my lost and found there’s a sunbeam breaking through the cloud, I hear you say, it’s ok.”
He adds a croaky vocal on ‘There’s A War Going On’, which features a nice uplifting guitar line and a vocoder doctored hook that evokes ELO.
He saves his best until last, on the sonorous intro and subsequent poetic orchestral sweep of ‘The Conductive Waltz’. It’s a reflective piece on which he even references his first orchestrated single ‘Geneva’.
The filmic waltz-time arrangement is topped by his best vocal and lyrics in recent years: “A kiss from a princess, the gift of an audience, the stage to build a career, all given swiftly from April to June, the very same year that they walked on the moon.”
Once you play the album back to back the sequential flow reveals itself. Everything leads naturally to a wonderful journey’s end that incorporates all his fragmented past to make up a coherent whole. For somewhere underneath the zany ideas, the anarchic humour and the Obama style ‘Yes we can’ attitude, there is a songwriter of surprising depth still trying to get out.
This album could equally have been called ‘Postcards From Montserrat’ as it is effectively a snapshot of all the good things that continue to give Otway enduring appeal. ****
Review by Pete Feenstra
Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK
Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions, streamed via Facebook.
In 2023 he signed a recording deal with Sony in Canada and released a new single on 15 September.
Next session: Sunday 1 December
Check out videos here: https://www.facebook.com/getreadytorockradio
David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast on 3 November 2024.
UK Blues Broadcaster of the Year (2020 and 2021 Finalist) Pete Feenstra presents his weekly Rock & Blues Show on Tuesday at 19:00 GMT as part of a five hour blues rock marathon “Tuesday is Bluesday at GRTR!”. The show is repeated on Wednesdays at 22:00, Fridays at 20:00). This show was first broadcast 29 October 2024.
How to Listen Live?
Click the programming image at the top of the page (top right of page if using desktop)
Listen via Windows Media Player. Click or tap here and “open file”
Listen via other media player (eg. VLC) Click or tap here and “open file”
Get Ready to ROCK! Radio is also in iTunes under Internet Radio/Classic Rock
Listen in via the Tunein app and search for “Get Ready to ROCK!” and save as favourite.
More information and links at our radio website where you can listen again to shows via the presenter pages: getreadytorockradio.com
Power Plays w/c 11 November 2024
ARCANE MOON Hello Sun (indie)
S8NT ELEKTRIC XTC (Long Branch Records)
ARCANA KINGS Here We Go (Curtain Call Records)
KLOGR face The Unknown (Zeta Factory)
BEYOND UNBROKEN Dance With The Dead (FiXT)
REVENGIN Decadent Feeling (Wormholedeath)
Featured Albums w/c 11 November 2024
09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Singer Songwriter)
PDF - you can delete unwanted sections